The Joker's Game
by akatc2017
Summary: What happens when the titans are kidnapped by the Joker and Starfire needs to get them out in time? Why does the Joker want her? The story is better than the summary(I mean, probably. Opinions are subjective). Rated T, but may be subject to change.
1. Chapter 1

New story! Yay!

So hey guys, this is going to be my first long story. I'm very excited, but would like to point a few things out.

I do not own Teen Titans, or any other DC characters

I'm not from Tamaran, some of that stuff is made up but is REALISTIC SO YEAH

Just so I don't get complaints, the idea of Starfire one being experimented on by the Gordanians to get her powers is not my original idea; from what I've seen it's a commonly accepted one and I've seen it referenced before in many other writings on other sites. So whoever's idea that was...give them credit. But the Sylium named element is my own thingy created-so yeah creativity ;D

Rated T+, rating subject to change.

 **Please leave me comments on what you think!** This chapter is kind of short, it being the first one, but I'm thinking of different chapters coming from different perspectives of the characters? Anyways, lets go!

 **Chapter 1**

Starfire finally came to, but was not sure where she was. Her vision blurred, probably due to some sort of trauma that had been caused to her. She looked around, seeing what seemed to be the headquarters of the titans tower;but with something else there.

Blood.

Starfire tensed, trying to remember what had happened. She glanced down at her thigh, seeing a gaping wound in it, seeming to be the source of some of the red liquid that had been poured out into the room. However, it wasn't just her blood-she could sense it. No, Starfire had seen war before on her planet and was trained to have heightened senses when she was training to be a warrior. She could recognize these things, and she could tell when there was a struggle.

" _Remember what happened, please!_ ", she thought to herself.

Starfire took a deep breath in attempts calm down and to fully process the situation. She was sitting in a chair with a thin metal cable wrapped around her, threatening to cut into her arms and stomach if she moved. There were hand and boot marks scattered on the walls, telling her that she had at least put up some sort of a fight. Furniture was broken, papers were everywhere and there was a giant crack in the mainframe computer screen. Blood was trailing from the entrance of the room to her chair, this being hers, but there was also blood smeared against the walls from what she sensed was some foreigner(Starfire deemed this to be that of her opponent).

"Friends?" she called, hoping someone would answer; but to no avail. Starfire closed her eyes and really listened; allowing her warrior instincts to kick in. She sensed no movement in the tower whatsoever. Whatever was in here, whatever did this to her, was long gone by now.

Starfire was weary of moving, but she knew that she had to get out somehow in order to search for her friends.

She shifted her weight slightly backwards, attempting to fall and break the chair. While she did fall back, the chair didn't even budge, leaving the Tamaranean on the floor. Starfire knew what she had to do, and bit her lip so she wouldn't scream. She jumped, lifting her horizontal body upwards toward the ceiling, the wire now cutting deep into her skin. Luckily however, the impact of falling back down broke the wooden chair beneath her, allowing her to free herself.

Starfire stood up, allowing the blood to trickle down her body and onto the floor. The young girl was getting woozy, possibly due to blood loss or to shock, and felt a tear trickle down her cheek. Her mind immediately thought to go towards the Tower's clinic, right next to Cyborg's room-not too far of a walk. She stumbled a little, putting too much weight on her injured leg, but continued to limp towards the door, hoping to find some sort of clue that would jog her memory along the way.

The hallways were dark and still, but had an eery feeling to them that made Starfire unsettled. She limped past the bedrooms, seeing streaks of blood along those walls as well, but not all of it hers. There were claws along the wall nearest to Beast Boy's room, inferring that he had tried to fight off the same thing that had gotten her.

"Beast Boy!" Starfire cried, peeking inside his room. Nothing. Just torn curtains and a messy room(which is not uncommon for Beast Boy, the mess at least). Starfire sighed in defeat, and limped further down the hall. She passed Raven's room, only peeking through the door because Starfire already knew what she would find-and it would only break her heart. She faintly saw a black-colored pool of blood in the corner on the floor, and just started to cry. She was so desperate to know that her friends were okay.

Cyborgs room seemed to have the least amount of damage, but only because Cyborg didn't have very many areas on his body that could shed blood. He did have nuts and bolts scattered all over the floor, causing Starfire to hurt even more. He could be...gone.

While the clinic was just a few steps further, Starfire could see Robin's room from across the hall. She had to know; she needed him. He of all people couldn't be gone.

"Robin?" she called weakly, her voice cracking. She struggled over to his room and walked through the door. Her gasp was audible, and her sobs quieted.

Over Robin's bed was Slade's trademark in red spray paint...or was it blood? Starfire didn't even want to know at this point. She was just praying to X'hal that her friends weren't dead, and she didn't need any confirmations that Robin's mangled body was somewhere in the hands of this lunatic.

She walked up to the nightstand to get a better look at the graffitied symbol, and was surprised by what she saw. In little letters seemingly written in black marker, the word "gotcha" was present.

"What the…?" Starfire was cut off by the flat surface of Robin's nightstand being flipped over to reveal a sealed letter on a platter, sat right next to a yellow flower placed in a green vase. Ignoring the flower, Starfire gently picked up the note and broke the seal.

" _Hello Stary,_

 _Ah, such a pretty little flower. It's why I kept you alive, why I chose you. That and I know it's gonna get on little bird brain's butt to know his precious little girlfriend is out of his protection. Oh, how I love to see him struggle._

 _Listen doll, we've never met, but you seem fun. So hows about we play a little game? Your friends are alive and well(I mean, mostly, but a few scratches never hurt anyone-just ask me!), but not for long. I'm going to give you three days to find our location before they die an utterly cruel death. And, although striking, your pretty green eyes aren't the only reason why I wanted you to play this little game. I need something from you, princess. I was made aware that a very rare element runs through the veins of you Tamerwhateans, an element that I need for a fun little toy I'm designing. However, learning of your little experimentations and powerful starbolts allowed me to assume that you have a high concentration of Sylium in your bloodstream-making you perfect._

 _Three days. I want you and a vial of your blood (better yet, just bring yourself to me and I'll take however much I need.), or you can kiss the leprechaun, black bird, bucket of bolts and your baby batman goodbye._

 _See you soon, my dear._

 _-Good ol' Jack_

Starfire cringed at the "my dear" part, and, well, at the whole letter. Who in the glorkf was this maniac? How did he know Robin-the letter hints that he has met him before.

But Starfire was very aware of why he would want her blood. The element Sylium was what allowed Tamaraneans to conserve heat in extremely cold temperatures, as Tamaran is almost in a constant state of nighttime for more than half of one Earth year. However, when she and Blackfire were sold as slaves to the Gordanians, they were both experimented on. The experimenters put heavy amounts of Sylium into the bodies of the two girls to see what toll it would have on their bodies, allowing them to produce heat of their own(aka starbolts). Sylium, however, is very radioactive, which worried the princess greatly. Whatever "toy" this man was making, it could kill a lot of people.

At this point Starfire didn't care to remember how she had gotten kidnapped, nor her friends. But she was going to find them.

 _"But where do I even begin?" she thought. "If I hand myself over, many people may die. But I cannot let my friends suffer, either...and Robin..."_

Starfire snapped quickly back into reality when the wounds from her stomach started to sear in pain, causing her to cry out. She had been so distracted by her friend's situation that she had ignored the massive blood loss she was suffering from, coming from her multiple wounds. The redhead tried to stumble towards the clinic, but the pain was so unbearable her body was already beginning to shut down.

She made it into the hallway before her legs completely gave out, her head hitting the floor with a loud thud.

Her mind was fuzzy and her vision was gone, but she heard something(or someone) crash through the window in the clinic, footsteps running towards her quickly. The last thing she remembered was a dark figure taking her into their arms.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two! Don't have too much to say about this one, so yeah. Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 2

White.

All Starfire could see around her was white. Her eyes opened wider, allowing them to adjust to her new environment. There were metal medical devices scattered along a blue tray that was sat on the table next to her. Scalpels, needles, bloody gauzes. X'hal, Starfire could barely even stomach the sight of blood right now. She turned her head away and sat up from her laying down position.

She wasn't wearing her own clothes, but some very baggy sweatpants and a loose shirt. She glanced around the room in attempts to spot her uniform, but didn't see anything out in the open. She swung her legs around and let her feet rest on the cold tiles below her before feeling a dull pain coming from her stomach.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A young man was leaning against the door frame, looking the princess up and down. "You got it pretty bad, lost a lot of blood."

Starfire was so confused. Who was this? "Why am I here...who are you?" These were the only words Starfire could get out in her frazzled state, but in her mind she had so many more questions.

The dark-haired boy walked over to Starfire and guided her legs back into the bed, wanting to be sure she followed his instructions. "A friend, I guess you could say that. I'm with the big bad Bat-well, my mom is at least. He keeps a close eye on you Titans, you know. He tried to intervene when your friends got taken, but someone hacked into our surveillance system and we couldn't help until it was too late."

"Batman?" Starfire whispered under her breath. "Why would Batman care?"

"You really don't know?" he laughed obnoxiously. Starfire raised an eyebrow. "Robin...Batman? "Golly gee, Batman!" he mocked. "Really, never?"

Starfire was growing impatient and was not fond of his attitude. "If I would have already known the answer, why would I have asked you?" She snapped back.

"Chill, alright?" The boy raised his hands up to her and continued. "Batman is Robin's father-of course he cares."

Starfire was surprised, but not as much as you might have thought. Robin had confined in her many stories about Batman, including details simple bystanders or the readers of magazines wouldn't know. She just never thought that he was, well, Dick Grayson.

"So...you are Catwoman's son? I was not aware she had conceived with Bruce…"

" _Is he not my age?"_ Starfire thought. " _He can not be Bruce's, unless he is Robin brother….but then he would have also fought alongside Bruce…_ " Starfire's confused train of thought got cut off.

The brunette just cringed in an awkward(and slightly dramatic) way. "No, God no! Don't even say that, okay?" Starfire looked at him with wide, apologetic eyes. "Just, ew. I'm her stepson. Bruce just kinda has to deal with me for right now until my dad gets back from a work thing in London."

"I am sorry if I have angered you! I feel 'stupid' in the asking of that question." Starfire blushed furiously out of embarrassment.

"Hey no, it's okay." He cocked her head at her. "Not very good at picking up at sarcasm, are ya?"

"Please?"

"I was joking." he said, cracking a smile. "I'm Xander. And you are Starfire."

"Greetings." she said with a typical Starfire-smile on her face. She extended her arm out towards him to shake his hand, but quickly retracted it in pain.

"Oh! Careful." Xander reached over, starting to unwrap the bandage that was on her right arm. "Stitches. On your arms and your stomach. Can't be too rough with them or they'll break open."

Xander finished pulling off the gauze and stared in bewilderment. "How in the hell?" he said, looking closer. The wound seemed to have healed so much just in the past few hours. Of course, the stitches would still be needed for a few days, but that cut was deep. "Aliens must heal quickly, I take it." he said with a smile.

Starfire nodded. "We are a warrior people. We must be able to fight and heal quickly from whatever injuries that may occur."

He nodded and started to pull at the hem of Starfire's shirt, which caused her to blush and push his hand away quickly. "May I?" he asked with annoyance in his voice. He quickly calmed his temper, however. "Look, your worst injury is on your stomach. I need to see how it's healing up." he smiled gently. "Plus it's my shirt." he added quickly with a wink.

Starfire was hesitant, but then allowed him to pull the shirt up just enough for him to check.

The boy used a gentle touch to pull up the bandage, trying not to hurt the girl too much. Starfire tried to read what he was thinking, but his frown said enough. "Seems infected, possibly." Xander reached over to the bedside table with the many instruments and poured some liquid onto a rag before cleaning her wound. Starfire winced, but allowed Xander to do what he needed to do.

"This'll definitely take a lot longer to heal." he said finally.

"I do not understand, I have never had 'the infection' before. Tamaraneans don't normally get those."

"It's a real bad cut though, Star. Can I call you that?"

She immediately thought of Robin and became pained at his nickname for her. "No."

"Alright then, princess." he rolled his eyes and pretended to bow. Starfire just glared. "Look, whatever was on the wire that cut into you must have infected the wound. The wire cut deepest into your stomach-I'm not surprised."

There was a moment of silence between the two of them, neither of them looking at each other. Finally Xander decided to break the silence. "Why did you do it?"

Starfire looked into his brown eyes with a confused expression on her face. "Do what?"

He looked at her quizzically. "Nearly kill yourself for people that may not even be alive. You didn't wait for help to come or spend time thinking of a way to break the restraints without getting hurt. You just did it. You could've gone straight to the clinic like any sane person and would've been better sooner, and yet you stopped to check in for your friends when you _knew_ nobody was there." She opened her mouth to stop him, but he cut her off first. "And don't tell me you didn't know the building was empty. You said it yourself-you're a warrior. You knew it would be a waste of time, so why?"

Starfire thought for a moment before took a deep breath. "Because it was not a waste of time. They are my friends, and I am here to protect my friends." she frowned suddenly. "And I have failed them."

Xander put a finger under her chin to allow her eyes to reach his. "Nearly bleeding to death trying to save someone doesn't sound like failing to me." he smiled. She held eye contact with him for a minute, and in one swift movement stuck a needle into her skin.

"What the….ah!" she screamed, causing him to laugh. Oh, she was furious all right. "You little glirpstench! How DARE you-"

"Cut the 'royalty standards' crap thing. Okay? I know it hurts and I'm sorry; I figured putting it in without you knowing would lessen your anxiety." He said in a cool voice, but Starfire was still ticked. "Now, you're gonna hate me for this, but I injected a serum that will temporarily take away your powers." Starfire's jaw dropped. _Did he just?!_ "Your body is putting too much energy towards strength that you won't be using right now. The medicine will merely allow your body to heal the infection-a thing it's not used to doing. So no starbolts, your super strength-"

Starfire cut him off, obviously fired up. "What do you mean, 'energy I will not use'? My FRIENDS are in danger!" Starfire smacked the needle out of his hands and stood up abruptly. It hurt like hell, but she didn't care at this point. "I need to help them!"

Starfire ripped the IV out of her hand and started to walk towards the door. Xander was standing in her way in attempts to get her to sit down, only made the tamaranean angrier. She threw a punch, only to be caught by his hand and he grabbed her by the waist, pushing her down onto the bed.

"Let me go!" Starfire commanded; she hated being weak-she hated that _this_ asshole was stronger than her. It infuriated her.

"Not a chance!" he said, waiting for her to stop her effortless squirming.

It took a minute, but Starfire gave up, lying helpless on the bed. She tried to keep tears from falling down her cheek, she really did. But one fell after another, and soon she was sobbing into her pillow.

"I am a weakling, I am helpless and I could not even fight _you_ off!" she cried, causing Xander to feel a pang of guilt that hit him square in the stomach(and offense that she called him weak. He was fit...right?). "I will not be able to help my friends now...and I have only three days…"

Xander sat on the edge of her bed, holding her hand(the only thing he thought of to do because he sucked at comforting people).

Her cries turned into muffled squeaks, and soon, silence.

"Listen," Xander said quietly. "Your body needs to heal. Batman read the note, okay? He's got this...you have to rest. And you can do without your powers for a week, just long enough for your wound to heal. Once it does, the medicine injected into you will react with the healed tissue cells and transform into a type of common-cold viral form that you body will kill off. Bada bing bada boom, your body naturally uses your energy to fuel your powers again." he smiled, trying to show the Tamaranean the bright side.

Spoiler alert: it didn't work. Starfire sighed. "The man called Jack wants _me_ , and I will not be able to fight him off now. Not even the Batman can save them alone."

Xander frowned. She was right, and felt like a jerk. But he also had a good point. "Listen, you wouldn't have been able to fight anyways. With that infection, you would've gotten even worse."

Starfire didn't respond for a while, simply staring at the ceiling, trying to avoid noticing her own negative thoughts. "Where am I?" she said finally. "Robin said Mr. Batman lives in a cave, I believe?"

Xander laughed lightly. "Not quite. He spends a lot of time down there, though. You're at the estate in Gotham."

"The young man is correct." A tall man dressed as a butler walked through the door, a glass of water on a tray of his. He set the glass down on the table nearest to the door and stood looking at the two. "I am Alfred." He said with a smile. "Happy to be of service, princess."

Starfire became confused yet again. "Xander, you are of Royalty? You have servants?"

Alfred laughed at the innocent girl's comment. "Not quite, although I do believe master Bruce thinks of himself as king sometimes." he said with a smile.

Starfire's eyes lit up as she smiled warmly back. "Thank you, sir Alfred."

"Just Alfred." he assured her. "It's what my friends call me."

"Glorious." she responded. "Thank you, friend Alfred."

The butler appreciated the young girl's kindness, and nodded on his way out. "Oh," he remembered. "Master Bruce would like to speak with you as soon as possible, miss... Koriandr, I believe your file said."

Xander scrunched his nose in confusion about who he was referring to, but Starfire just smiled.

"Starfire." she said with confidence. "Just Starfire. It is what _my_ friends call _me._ "


	3. Chapter 3

...hi.

I know, I suck. I'm sorry, but I promise I wont wait that long to update again. Probably. I've been able to map out the story for the most part and in all honesty it was just hard for me to figure out how this chapter was gonna go down. But its here and yeah.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment! Love you and thanks :) (also, if the format is off, just ignore it. Still figuring this out and for some reason the formatting on this chapter is coming off kind of janky)

Chapter 3

Black.

That's all Robin could see for the longest time, along with the other titans. Hearing drops of water hitting a cement floor repeatedly, Robin could infer they had to be in some type of cell.

The masked boy shifted slightly to his right, being tied up in some sort of chair, only to yelp out in pain from a shock that was sent throughout his entire body.

"Electrodes. Great." he muttered.

"Ouch!" he heard a higher-pitched voice shriek. "Dude, that hurts!"

"Then stop moving you idiot." Robin could sense the eye roll Raven was giving the changeling just by the tone of her voice.

Just then Robin was able to see the faces of his teammates when Cyborg flicked on a flashlight that was connected to his shoulder.

"Ha." he said. "Good thing I installed this bad boy. And Raven said it was stupid."

The goth rolled her eyes. "You already have two on each wrist, and your eye glows. It is stupid."

"Guys." Robin said, breaking his own silence. "Can we focus, please?" Where the hell were we? he thought.

"Uh, guys? Anyone see Starfire?" Raven asked in her usual monotone voice.

Panic suddenly shot through all of the titans, but mainly Robin.

"Idiot." He thought. How hadn't he noticed she was gone sooner? He always keeps his eye on her, even during battle. He always puts it upon himself to know her location and the expression on her face; always. As the team leader, it's his job to protect her(that's what he tells himself at least). And now of all times he forgets about her. "Nice going, bird brain." He scolded himself mentally.

"She's dead!" Beast Boy began to panic. "She's GONE she's dead she's dead she's deeea-OUCH"

The three titans shook their heads in annoyance while Beast boy went on his whole spiel, periodically yelping out in pain when he moved too much in his seat and got shocked.

"Ha ha ha HA HA! Ha ha he, he hah…" a voice unknown echoed through the dark room. "Wow, let me tell ya Dick. Thought you'd have a harder crew to battle."

Robin's insides started to flip, palms began to sweat and instant fear shook through him. "It's you." he breathed out over the faint echo that was slowly getting louder.

"But I guess you're still learning." The voice continued. The titans could easily sense the obvious smile in his voice.

"Robin...who's this supposed to be?" Cyborg asked, started to get shaken up himself seeing how paled his best friend had gotten.

"Learning's good...fun even." A man slowly walked out from the shadowed cell into the small beam of light that was being cast from the robot's body. "And you know how much I love fun." he grinned, insanity in his voice.

The man was tall and covered in numerous scars from God only knows where. He had vibrant green hair that was basically sticking out of his head; as if even they were trying to escape him. His face was pale white, his eyes darkened as if with coal. His mouth seemed brutally mangled, extended to the midpoint of his jawline and seemed to have been cut with scissors. He walked slowly, examining each of the titans.

"Let's see…" he strolled behind the seat of each teen, appointing them directly. "A robot with a teenie tiny light...a little animal boy the color of vomit...OH! And a goth." He began to run his hands through Raven's hair, causing her to growl and shock him with the use of her magic.

"Ouch!" he screamed out before letting out a chuckle. He grabbed a fist of her hair and bent her head back in order to not only electrocute her, but to hit her head on the back of the chair she was sat in. "Bad girl!" He scolded.

"Don't touch her." Beast Boy growled at him.

The Joker stared at the green titan for a minute, looking at a now-bleeding Raven before back to him again. He began to smile. "Ah, a friendship. Or is it love? Which is it? Tell me, buddy boy." Beast Boy's face began to flush, both at the comment and at the man walking closer to him. "Well. I'll be sure to keep you two farrrr apart." He said, pulling Raven's chair to the other corner of the room. He leaned down and whispered into her ear, but still being loud enough for the others to hear. "Can't have any funny business going on, now can we?"

"Get away from her." Robin seethed, finally out of his head. His face was hard as a rock now, but that was only to hide his fear.

The Joker backed away from the seething girl of Azarath and made his way over to the leader. "Ah, boy blunder. Part of a love triangle?" He frowned. "Really? Pretty cliche. Kinda disappointed. Don't get me wrong-black beauty over there is a keeper- but I thought the tabloids matched you up with Red."

That set him off. "Where the hell is she?" Robin demanded, fists clenched.

"Oh, thank goodness." The Joker sighed. "You are with the princess. I hate triangles. She's quite the looker-too good for you though, considering your kind of-"

Robin jumped just enough to allow the chair to come up and slam back down on the Joker's foot, causing the freak to yell(followed by the boy bat himself yelling, taking a small shock).

The Joker frowned, becoming inpatient. He grabbed the teen by his dark hair and pulled hard, bringing Robin's face close to his own.

"You're gonna be a fun one to kill." He spat.

Robin's heart was in his throat, but he continued to speak nonetheless. "I said, where is she?"

"We're just playing a game." he smiled honestly.

"What game?" Robin demanded, yelling somewhat.

The Joker's eyes widened, a sparkle evident. "A game where you're the prize."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, man?" Cyborg chimed in.

"Ha!" The maniac laughed. "Well, my good ol' bucket of bolts buddy, I'll tell ya." He backed away from the teens and pulled out a remote from his pocket, flicking on a television screen placed on the nearby wall.

The screen was staticy for a moment before clearing, only to reveal on the screen a mangled Starfire, struggling to escape a sharp wire wrapped around her in a chair.

"Let her go." Raven spat, beating Robin to it.

You could tell Starfire had muttered something; probably calling out for help, Robin imagined. But there was no sound on the recording. With that, the screen showed Starfire jumping up into the air, the wire cutting deeply into her stomach and arms in her escape. Blood dripped down her body onto the floor, and she seemed to be in serious pain.

"No!" Robin yelled, jumping up onto his feet, only to fall forward onto the ground as the electrodes pierced into his skin with his movement.

The Joker let out a laugh before flicking off the screen. He walked over to the almost-unconscious boy and put his foot on his head, pressing it into the ground.

He looked back at Cyborg. "She's got three days to find you before I kill you all myself."

"Why Starfire? Why'd you chose her?" Raven demanded, shooting the green-haired fiend a glare.

"Like I said, she's a hot little number." he winked.

"Don't talk about her that way." Beast Boy growled.

"Going after all the girls, aren't ya Sparky?"

"Answer the question." Cyborg screamed. "Why her?"

"No fun, are you?" the Joker sighed. "I hate spoiling a good story, so I'll cut it short. She's got something I need."

"What is that?" Robin mustered up the strength to ask.

"Hmmmm." the ghostly man pondered for a moment before kicking Robin across the floor, causing a few protests from his fellow teammates (but, as expected, the Joker blocked them all out). "Play the game, boy wonder."

Jack's heels clicked as he walked towards the door of the cell, opening it just enough for him to slide out.

"Just play the game."


	4. Update

Hi everyone!

So Id like to start out by saying that Im sorry its taken me so long to update. These past few months I've been struggling with school, work, college applications, family, and worsening depression. Its been really hard to work up the motivation to write any more. But I assure you I will. I hope you all understand even though its a weak excuse to have a 3 month update gap.

I would like to thank those of you who do review about my content, it is greatly appreciated. Sorry my last chapters have had typos and stuff I'm just now realizing-sucks on my part. Ill have to edit more thoroughly.

Anyways, a promise I am making to you is that you will have an update on this story no later than FRIDAY of this week. New chapter, hopefully no errors this time around, the whole shabang.

Love you guys, and like I said, hope you get excited for this week's update! Thanks for sticking around!


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